Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

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Monday news, part two:

Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya sheds light on why he left Platinum, the company he co-founded: 'Without that element of trust, I couldn't continue working there'
https://www.pcgamer.com/bayonetta-director-hideki-kamiya-sheds-light-on-why-he-left-platinum-the-company-he-co-founded-without-that-element-of-trust-i-couldnt-continue-working-there/
Hideki Kamiya—director of Bayonetta and Okami, co-founder of PlatinumGames, "unemployed man," and guy who has you blocked on Twitter—is making the rounds again, and this time he's ready to spill the beans. Sort of. In a recent chat with IGN, the legendary developer shed some light on his departure from Platinum in October, telling the world that he just didn't like the way the company was going.

'Path of Exile 2 in some ways is less complicated than Path of Exile 1': Grinding Gear Games talks about why it created a WASD control scheme and other improvements in the sequel to its long-running ARPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/path-of-exile-2-in-some-ways-is-less-complicated-than-path-of-exile-1-grinding-gear-games-talks-about-why-it-created-a-wasd-control-scheme-and-other-improvements-in-the-sequel-to-its-long-running-arpg/
Last month Path of Exile 2 was selected as the #9 Most Wanted game in PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted. The sequel to the long-running ARPG Path of Exile is coming soon, and with work on Path of Exile 2 now well underway, we flew to New Zealand to talk to developers at Grinding Gear Games about how they're approaching a game that needs to be firmly rooted in the original while offering both new players and veterans something fresh and different.

Starfield is nominated for the Most Innovative Gameplay award in the 2023 Steam Awards
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-is-nominated-for-the-most-innovative-gameplay-award-in-the-2023-steam-awards/
The 2023 Steam Award nominations are out, meaning it's time to cast your ballots for your favorite games across categories ranging from Game of the Year to Best Game You Suck At.
Unlike most other awards programs, the Steam Awards limits nominees to a maximum of two categories, which presumably explains why Baldur's Gate 3, which has been a behemoth at awards shows throughout 2023, isn't set to run the table (again). Other two-category nominees include EA Sports FC24, Lethal Company, Hogwarts Legacy, and Resident Evil 4, while Starfield, which was shut out at The Game Awards, is getting a little recognition too: It's in the running for Most Innovative Gameplay.

Godus is deadus: Peter Molyneux's controversial Godus games are finally being taken off Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/godus-is-deadus-peter-molyneuxs-controversial-godus-games-are-finally-being-taken-off-steam/
In the history of videogames, there are few botches more infamous than that of Godus. Envisioned as a god game in the style of Molyneux's earlier work on the groundbreaking Populous, it was also intended to be the home of the winner of Curiosity, the game about smashing away pieces of a cube to reach the mysterious prize inside—a prize that turned out to be godhood in Godus.
This was where things started to go wrong. Molyneux quickly began dialing back the scale of the promised "life-changing" prize, and then Godus itself turned out to be pretty much garbola, and then it was all abandoned (including the winner of the Curiosity prize) until 2016, when Molyneux's 22cans studio resurfaced with Godus Wars, a warfare-focused take on the idea of the original. Guess what? Also garbola, also abandoned.

This WW2 game just got rescued by the creators of Squad, and a huge new patch is live now
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-ww2-game-just-got-rescued-by-the-creators-of-squad-and-a-huge-new-patch-is-live-now/
It's been a while since I dove headfirst into a milsim, but Offworld Industries' bid to revitalize its WW2 spinoff of Squad makes me want to clear my calendar. Post Scriptum (2018) has been fully acquired by publisher and Squad developer Offworld Industries, who's slapped on a new label that better reflects what you're getting: Squad, but set in 1944.
But it's also been substantially updated. A huge patch yesterday added two new factions (the Greeks and Aussies), a map, seven weapons, and a bunch of balancing changes.

I should know better this early on, but Arkane's teaser and first concept art for Blade already have me unreasonably excited
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-should-know-better-this-early-on-but-arkanes-teaser-and-first-concept-art-for-blade-already-have-me-unreasonably-excited/
I really should know better than to lose my gourd over a game before it even has a gameplay trailer, but the first peeks we've gotten of Arkane's Blade adaptation already have me excited. In addition to the brief teaser at The Game Awards, Arkane Lyon art director Sebastien Mitton recently shared three pieces of concept art for the upcoming action game.
>> Don't be like the author of the article and stay cautious.

The original Fallout's pacifist playthrough was an 'accidental' inclusion, but its designers loved the idea so much they kept it in
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-original-fallouts-pacifist-playthrough-was-an-accidental-inclusion-but-its-designers-loved-the-idea-so-much-they-kept-it-in/
Long time RPG developer Tim Cain (Fallout, The Outer Worlds, Troika Games) has revealed another surprising fact about the Fallout series via his excellent YouTube channel. The games are known for their open-ended RPG gameplay and allowing player freedom, but according to Cain, one of their hallmarks, the so-called pacifist run where you don't directly kill enemies, was originally an accident.

A villain in Baldur's Gate 3 was originally guaranteed to kidnap whoever you romanced, 'which wasn't very popular'
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-villain-in-baldurs-gate-3-was-originally-guaranteed-to-kidnap-whoever-you-romanced-which-wasnt-very-popular/
In my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3, not long after making it to the city that makes up the massive RPG's final act, one of the villains kidnapped Lae'zel. And while I didn't put off rescuing her for too long, I also didn't rush it. Don't look at me like that, this was in-character—I was playing Shadowheart.
If my romance partner Gale was the one who got abducted, however, I might have got a wriggle on. In a recent interview with IGN, Larian's director Swen Vincke explained that was how it was first planned to play out. "Originally it was always your romantic partner," he said, "which wasn't very popular."
>> Meanwhile, other things barely changed, like Lae'zel. Oh, another thing: Dark Urge was originally going to be a paladin.

Blood Bowl 3 gets Shambling Undead team, and a sizeable patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/blood-bowl-3-gets-shambling-undead-team-and-a-sizeable-patch/
Each new season of fantasy football parody Blood Bowl 3 promises a new Blood Pass and a new team that can either be unlocked by paying for said Blood Pass or earning your way up to the top of its free tier. The first season's team, the Lizardmen, were given away for free, while the subsequent teams—the Underworld Denizens and now the Shambling Undead—will cost you either time or money.

I urge you to playtest Abiotic Factor, a survival game about scientists trapped in a vast underground black site
https://www.pcgamer.com/i-urge-you-to-playtest-abiotic-factor-a-survival-game-about-scientists-trapped-in-a-vast-underground-black-site/
So you're a scientist who works in one of those science-fictional giant underground research facilities—your Black Mesa, SCP Foundation, The Loop, what have you—and the day arrives where the big science catastrophe goes down and everyone's dying left and right and there's a horrible cascade of alternate dimensions and weird aliens pouring in. That's the setup for Abiotic Factor, an upcoming solo to six-player survival game that you can playtest for free, right now, via Steam.
>> Here's the link to Steam, and the playtest will last until the 1st of January.